OCALA - Fred Chisholm is done risking his life with 70 pounds of gear strapped to his body while he's crammed in the back of a slow-moving, military-surplus truck with no air conditioning. Make no mistake, the assistant SWAT Commander for Marion County Sheriff's Office will keep facing danger. But the lieutenant and 19 other SWAT team members will do so now in a better-equipped armored personnel carrier with a chemical and radiological monitoring system. The heavily armored vehicle unveiled Friday is a model known as The BearCat, built by Lenco Industries in Pittsfield, Mass. It was purchased with a Department of Homeland Security State Enhancement grant of $254,000.
The BearCat is a first-response vehicle in the event of a terrorist attack. The vehicle also will be used in barricaded hostage situations or other standoffs.
"We never know when something might go wrong," Chisholm said.
The BearCat has significant advantages over the SWAT team's former transportation, an old Air Force Peacekeeper purchased with another grant in 1985.
There are loudspeakers, two-way speakers, spotlights, a camera mounted on top that can capture infrared and color images, and the BearCats' dashboard monitor has better picture quality than the Peacekeeper's retrofitted system had, said SWAT team driver Sgt. Jeff Gold.
The Peacekeeper could fit about four men in back and two in front. The BearCat fits 10 fully equipped SWAT members in back, Chisholm said. Handles and outside foot railings allow others to ride on the side.
The BearCat was built from a Ford F550 pickup, giving it warranties from Ford and Lenco and making service possible at a Ford dealership.
Its hybrid construction makes some parts seem wildly at odds. The dashboard has an AM/FM radio, compact disc player and retractable cupholders. A few feet beyond lies a pop-up hatch on top that would allow an officer to provide cover as SWAT members deploy from the vehicle, and gun ports for officers to shoot from the safety of the vehicle.
Chisholm and other officers like the working air conditioner. Waits in the Peacekeeper during long standoffs in full gear meant baking in their own sweat.
The BearCats' doors clang shut like a bank vault. That's the feeling Gold said you're supposed to have driving and serving inside it. It was built to withstand .223- and .308-caliber armor piercing rounds. "It's a lot more secure," Gold said.
BearCats weigh 8 tons, get 10 miles per gallon and have a top speed of about 85 mph, said Lenco Industries president Len Light.
"They're not offensive," he said. "They're a bunker on wheels."
BearCats are being used across the country by a growing number of police departments. Lenco makes similar vehicles with slightly different equipment that are being used in Iraq and Afghanistan by the U.S. military, Light said.
The Peacekeeper's fate remains undecided. It was often in need of repair and regularly towed to incident scenes due to its lack of speed and unreliability, Gold said. No SWAT member seemed sentimental Friday about seeing it replaced.
"It served its purpose for a time," Gold said.